Heroes of Might and Magic II

[saimon69]

After a bit finally some time to work again so i finished the song score for Combat 3 and continued Combat 2

[saimon69]

gotta find the time to focus again; did download Sonatina samples suite, that should help

[tom256]

Can we expect new version of Your port? Or this version is last?

[meynaf]

You can expect a new version. The unknown thing is when.

[saimon69]

i admit am a bit slow in working on the musics but am going on too!

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by saimon69

i admit am a bit slow in working on the musics but am going on too!

Be slow if you want, but do quality
It must at least equal the midi (and respect the original melodies). Or else

Having no original source, working on that program is kind of software archaeology, but i know where to plug a player.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by meynaf

Be slow if you want, but do quality
It must at least equal the midi (and respect the original melodies). Or else

Am trying to reach a good compromise between CD sound and midi in only three-and-a-half channels; the links above should show am in the right direction so far... just am pissed some songs are hard to get leaner, as City of the necromancer, stuck around 350k

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by saimon69

Am trying to reach a good compromise between CD sound and midi in only three-and-a-half channels; the links above should show am in the right direction so far... just am pissed some songs are hard to get leaner, as City of the necromancer, stuck around 350k

If you have a good song that's 350k (or even a bit more), don't damage it for the sake of module size and keep it like it is.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by meynaf

If you have a good song that's 350k (or even a bit more), don't damage it for the sake of module size and keep it like it is.

Thats however where good craftsmanship lives :P i stopped at 350 because so far is the glass ceiling i did reach but if i find a way to keep quality will go a bit down

[saimon69]

By the way what is the maximum amount of memory a song should take?
Am starting to consider the possibility to include lyrics - at least partially - and those take a juicy amount of RAM

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by saimon69

By the way what is the maximum amount of memory a song should take?
Am starting to consider the possibility to include lyrics - at least partially - and those take a juicy amount of RAM

You can go up to 500 kb with no problem, but, please, no lyrics. This is to replace midi replay, not cd songs with opera (I'm considering playing wav files extracted from cd).

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by meynaf

You can go up to 500 kb with no problem, but, please, no lyrics. This is to replace midi replay, not cd songs with opera (I'm considering playing wav files extracted from cd).

Is a pity, was going to warm up my basso voice and do full diafragm [wooooo is deeeiin seeeeeiiiggg].... :P

[saimon69]

So am still working on this, trying to fill up the blanks in several compositions - wasteland, hidden jungle and City of wizard; however: do someone has the mid or xmi file of the sea theme? Am a bit stuck in trying to recreate the harp solo in the background, is not all the time intellegible.

By the way a couple curiosities i stumbled while looking for the mid file myself;
i found out Paul Anthony Romero lives not too far from my current location: wonder if i would ever stumble on him and what could be its reaction on me trying to convert its songs in mod files...

Second, guess is nothing Meynaf did not found out itself, but someone did work in reverse engineering the AGG format of the game files (even though seems not updated since 2010):
Heroes of Might and Magic II Reverse Engineering

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by saimon69

So am still working on this, trying to fill up the blanks in several compositions - wasteland, hidden jungle and City of wizard; however: do someone has the mid or xmi file of the sea theme? Am a bit stuck in trying to recreate the harp solo in the background, is not all the time intellegible.

There is no midi for the sea theme. Perhaps you can just concentrate on existing midi musics rather than attempting to redo all cd-only stuff.

Only midi that exist are :

track        music for
3            battle (1/2)
4            battle (2/2)
5            sorceress castle
6            warlock castle
7            necromancer castle
8            knight castle
9            barbarian castle
10           wizard castle
11           outside lava theme
12           outside desert theme
14           outside snow theme
15           outside swamp theme
17           outside dirt theme
18           outside grass theme
42           menu
43           conquest mode

Notes :
- castle musics have a different version for Price of Loyalty,
- cd tracks and midi musics don't always match,
- 9 and 10 are the same in The Succession Wars.

Originally Posted by saimon69

By the way a couple curiosities i stumbled while looking for the mid file myself;
i found out Paul Anthony Romero lives not too far from my current location: wonder if i would ever stumble on him and what could be its reaction on me trying to convert its songs in mod files...

I wonder if he still has some material related to homm2...

Originally Posted by saimon69

Second, guess is nothing Meynaf did not found out itself, but someone did work in reverse engineering the AGG format of the game files (even though seems not updated since 2010):
Heroes of Might and Magic II Reverse Engineering

The AGGregate file format isn't much by itself. However the graphics format contained inside has a few pitfalls, like the "shadowing" effect made by remapping the background pixels to something darker.

[saimon69]

There is no midi for the sea theme. Perhaps you can just concentrate on existing midi musics rather than attempting to redo all cd-only stuff.

is just that am and want to make it good...

[Lonewolf10]

I agree, it is so tempting to rush things when nearing the end of a long project. However, that can cause you to miss things so it is best to take your time.

Just make sure you have backups (preferably stored off-site) just incase anything bad happens.

[saimon69]

After long time some more work on this, Combat 2 and 3 are close to completion (had to find a sample to replace decently the "GO" choir)
So what i have so far, using as reference Meynaf Midi song index:

3            battle (1/2)            complete [combat 3 on CD]
4            battle (2/2)            in progress [combat 1 on CD]
5            sorceress castle        in progress
6            warlock castle          in progress
7            necromancer castle      in progress
8            knight castle           in progress
9            barbarian castle        in progress
10           wizard castle           in progress
11           outside lava theme      in progress
12           outside desert theme    complete
14           outside snow theme      complete
15           outside swamp theme     in progress
17           outside dirt theme      refining
18           outside grass theme     complete
42           menu                    to start
43           conquest mode           refining [part of Knight Town on CD]

Price of Loyalty

1            Barbarian Town          in progress
2            Knight Town             refining
3            Sorceress Town          in progress
4            Warlock Town            in progress
5            Wizard Town             in progress
6            Necromancer Town       complete

gonna take as reference this youtube video of midi via MT-32 but as sound want to take as reference CD.

[ Show youtube player ]

[saimon69]

City of Knight (and midi end game) drafting complete, now is cleanup phase

[McTrinsic]

Can't wait to see it on my Miggy .

Cheers,
McT

[saimon69]

Lately was able to work more on this; situation:
POL Knight town is still refining, found that timing is a bit off so have to fix it;
Brought dirt theme at the end of the score - sorta so i call it refining
Am doing the original wizard and barbarian theme but might say is halfway in tracing score,
lastly started castle of the sorceress

and today continued work on Wasteland